Tuesday, August 9, 2016

20 Things You May Not Know About Me

I really had trouble coming up with something to blog about today. If it wasn't for the #MTBoSBlaugust challenge, I probably wouldn't have blogged. I did some work in my classroom yesterday, but I didn't take pictures. Otherwise, I would have definitely had some progress pictures to blog about.

As I've been reading through other Blaugust posts, I've quite enjoyed reading the 20 Facts About Me posts from other participants. Thus, I decided to do my own. Except, I've done a 30 facts post before. Here's a link, but it's a little out of date. I was still "Ms. Hagan" when I wrote that post.

Since I've shared general facts about me before, I wanted to take this a step farther and try to share facts that you probably don't know about me. Unless of course you're related to me or married to me. If that is the case, don't be surprised if you're not surprised.

Here we go!

1. I hate water chestnuts. The crunch they have gets to me every single time.

2. Whenever I used to lay on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed as a kid, I would lay as close to the edge as possible so I would be able to roll out of the bed if the top bunk came crashing down. It's a good thing I was the older sister and got to always sleep on the top bunk.

3. I didn't start wearing glasses until the eighth grade. My sister needed glasses, so my mom took me to get my eyes checked too. I cried and pleaded that my eye sight was perfectly fine. She ignored my pleading and booked an appointment anyway. It turns out that having a headache every day after school was a sign my eye sight was not perfect.

4. I can never remember what side of the car my fuel tank is on. Thank goodness for the arrow on the dashboard that reminds me every time I go to fill up my car.

5. I read very quickly. In the fourth grade, I had a substitute teacher who didn't know this about me. She thought I was lying when I said I had already finished reading our story about Jackie Robinson. So, she made me read it over and over and over until all of the other students finished. There's also the fact that I read the entire 5 Practices book yesterday morning.

6. Once I accidentally poured lemonade on my cereal instead of milk. Nowadays, I prefer toast or pastries for breakfast.

7. Adding to my previous comment about loving pastries: Cinnamon rolls are my absolute favorite. There have been years where I asked for cinnamon rolls for my birthday instead of a birthday cake.

8. When I was in kindergarten, my friend misspelled her name on a worksheet one day. The teacher corrected it in red ink. The next day, I intentionally misspelled my name so that the teacher would write on my paper, too. She didn't even notice.

9. When I spent last summer in Australia, I tried a bunch of new foods. I didn't care much for vegemite, but I did fall in love with crumpets. They're like an english muffin but so much better. I've missed them so much that Shaun had crumpets shipped in from Canada this past Valentine's Day.

10. I decided I wanted to be a teacher when I was in elementary school. I even started a list on a sheet of notebook paper of all the favorite elements of each of my teachers' classes so I could steal them when I had a classroom of my own. Since I chose to teach high school math, I sadly haven't been able to use a single one of those ideas.

11. I wish I'd paid more attention to how to cook things growing up. I made lots of cookies, cakes, and brownies as a teenager, but I never really learned how to cook actual meals. I still have to google things like how to hardboil eggs and how to make mashed potatoes.

12. Shaun tells me I'm continually getting more adventurous in the kitchen. I've been making stuff without even looking at a recipe. This is a big leap for me!

13. Apparently I don't know how to cook for the appropriate season, though. Even though it's been sweltering in Oklahoma, I've been cooking lots of vegetarian chili and corn bread this summer. Corn bread is definitely one of my faves, and I've been taking advantage of the fact that I have another human to cook for. Cooking corn bread for one never really seemed worth it...

14. It always trips me up when someone asks me what my favorite movie is. I can't tell you that, but I can tell you which movies I've watched over and over and over. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Sweet Home Alabama. Top Gun. Double Jeopardy. Weird combination, I know.

15. I wish I was the type of person that made my bed everyday. I downloaded an app called "Habits" this summer to help me with that habit and others. The bed making hasn't been going that well. But, I haven't missed a day of flossing since I started tracking it.

16. I only recently learned that you're not supposed to wash your can opener every time you use it. I've been washing my can opener regularly, and it kept getting worse and worse and worse about opening cans. Finally, I splurged on a new can opener. The instructions said to not submerge it in water but to just wipe it down after using if necessary. Oops!

17. I'm terrible at organizing my computer files. I have a tendency to save everything to my desktop and tell myself I'll organize it later. Later usually doesn't come for a very long time. I've had up to 400 files saved to my desktop before. It kinda stresses my husband out.

18. My favorite store to shop at is Tuesday Morning. I always spend ages on the crafty/office supply aisle. I also always have to check out the toy aisle to see if there are any cool board games or card games. You can usually pick up games there for under $4. I've bought card games for as cheap as $0.99.

19. I love keeping a budget. Do I need a budget? Probably not. My parents are super-savers, and they raised me to be one, too. I also married another saver. I'm blessed to have enough of a cushion in the bank that I don't need to track every penny I spend. But, I still love to do so. Since April, I've been using EveryDollar.com to keep a budget, and it's been so much fun. At the beginning of the month, I fill in my expected income and expenses. Then as the month progresses, I insert expenses into the various categories. If I end up spending more in one category than I planned, I have to reduce the budget in another category. Updating the budget is one of my favorite tasks of the day. Does that make me weird?

20. I love painting my toenails, but I hate painting my fingernails. First off, when I try to paint the fingers on my right hand with my left hand, it looks like I've been involved in some sort of gruesome crime. Then, there's the fact that the first time the polish chips I want to take all the polish off. So, I just stick with painting my toes.

I'm not entirely sure what you're supposed to take away from this blog post, but it was fun to write. I hope you found it to be an enjoyable read. I know I always love getting a peek into someone's life that you don't normally get to see.

Here are some links to other math teacher bloggers who have posted some 20 Facts posts lately. Some of them are pretty new bloggers, so I'm sure they'd love it if you showed them some comment-love!

7 comments:

I love the list, thanks for sharing! I want to get one up myself soon. I love Tuesday Morning, too! I may be one of the few men who will say that haha. I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog!

I literally laughed out loud at #1. I love ordering kung pao chicken and chomping away at the crunchy water chestnuts. They're so fun!

Also, the thing about having 400 files saved to your desktop and it stressing out Shaun made me giggle as well. I've been told by a person or two that I'm a "tab hoarder" on my computer since I tend to have 10-20 internet tabs open at a time. My boyfriend always seems distressed by the amount when he uses my computer.

I'm a vegetarian, well flexitarian, and I've been eating a bunch of chili this summer too. I've found that when you dump a bunch of sour cream on it then it makes it more appropriate for the hot summer months. And I gotta admit, I LOVE the crunch of water chestnuts!!!

I'm also the same way about painting my toes but not my fingernails. Plus I always end up chipping my fingernail paint so much faster than my toenail paint, even with all the running I do.

Oh and my first year teaching I made sure to get some of the posters I had seen in my most influential teachers classrooms to put up in my room. It's funny to me how good educators always end up "stealing" stuff from those that inspired them!

Not making your bed every day is actually a good thing. Bed bugs thrive in dark, moist places - and when we sleep, we sweat. Much of the moisture ends up in the sheets and the mattress. It's wise to pull down the sheets and blankets and let your bed "air out" very often. Fresh air and sunlight are very good for sheets and mattresses!

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